Thread: April Challenge!

Not quite pens yet, but I have turned these Sierra tubes/blanks down to 1mm oversize.
My Brother in Law arrives for a visit tomorrow, he can choose one and Ill finish it for him.

Left to right, Pennyleaf, Pennyleaf, Black Wattle, Bull Oak.

DSC_9494.jpg

If I was your brother in law I'd grab the lot! Lovely timbers and can't wait to see them all finished. And get some pics before he whips them away.

I have a very small piece of pennyleaf.....amazing stuff - but as is the point to all this, it currently lays idol waiting for the right opportunity......you may be forcing my hand Brad as it looks bloody gorgeous!

Just lovely Brad ... would be hard to decide from among these.
The penny leaf is an introduced Dalbergia (rosewood) if my memory serves me right.
Look forward to seeing the result. Turning blanks into cylinders is a great way of displaying before deciding & finishing. Euge

Originally Posted by Gary H

If I was your brother in law I'd grab the lot! Lovely timbers and can't wait to see them all finished. And get some pics before he whips them away.

He better not be too greedy, I have to fix his Jeep while he’s here as well, we need to find time for a beer in between the jobs somehow.

Originally Posted by Gabriel

I have a very small piece of pennyleaf.....amazing stuff - but as is the point to all this, it currently lays idol waiting for the right opportunity......you may be forcing my hand Brad as it looks bloody gorgeous!

It is lovely stuff Gab. I got some juicy pics to post tonight, keep an eye out.

Originally Posted by Euge

Just lovely Brad ... would be hard to decide from among these.
The penny leaf is an introduced Dalbergia (rosewood) if my memory serves me right.
Look forward to seeing the result. Turning blanks into cylinders is a great way of displaying before deciding & finishing. Euge

Dalbergia Sissoo If my memory is correct. Indian Rosewood.

Anyone else see 3 dogs and a pig ?
Edit- make that 4 dogs and a Pig
DSC_9494 - Version 2.jpg

Yep, got them but now my neck hurts

The BIL chose the BullOak blank. Finished it this afternoon. CA finish, and mounted on a stainless Liberty kit.

The pics aren't the best, it started to rain when I was setting up, so just a couple of quick snaps, then pack up before the camera got wet.
DSC_9520.jpg

DSC_9521.jpg

Brad, your brother in law is doing well - gets his Jeep fixed, drinks your beer, and scores a pen like that. Now if i could get you to marry my sister, I'd be your brother in law, wouldn't I? But I refuse to get a Jeep! Thanks for the look at the finished product; another outstanding job.
Now how about finishing the rest of those blanks so we can see which we like best - probably all of them.

Cheers, Gary

I really like the tarnished finish on that kit....works really well with the buloke!
Another beautiful piece there Brad, thanks for sharing

I see a dinosaur, but no dogs or sheep......

Hopefully tomorrow night I will be able to put my 3 up that I just finished tonight, but too dark to photograph.

Well my apologies for the quality of the photos but everything was against me tonight. I was hoping to photograph the pens outside under natural light but it was too dark by the time I got home, only had the phone available and I had to get these up in April. Maybe I should have just joined the May challenge instead but here they are and that will force me to do more next month.
The first one is a Sierra Stylus with Olive Root. I acquired this blank from our good friend Amos when he was still with us. It must have been cut when fairly green as it had twisted and bent quite a bit and the shrinkage in the wood opened up cavities. I filled these cavities with CA and Ebony dust and coated it with about 20 coats of thin CA, sanded to 12000 grit Micromesh, polished with Brasso and then Meguiars Plastix. This was the same process used on all blanks.
I am a bit disappointed with the blank as I expected more colour variations that you come to expect from Olive.

Olive Root_1.jpg Olive Root_2.jpg

The next one is WA York Gum Burl which came out quite good except I had to take the photo under some sort of supposedly photographic lights. Unfortunately the colours changed and I am not smart enough with photography to correct them properly, but at least the grain shows up as it is.

WA-York-Gum-Burl_1.jpg WA-York-Gum-Burl_3.jpg WA-York-Gum-Burl_2.jpg

The third pen is a Cigar with Crow's Ash Burl

Crows-Ash-Burl_1.jpg Crows-Ash-Burl_2.jpg

Hopefully next month I will get my act together sooner and have them finished with enough time to spare to be able to take the photos the way I want.

Great job Treecycle. Beautiful pens and beautiful woods ... AND just in time to make the April deadline.

The Crows Ash burl was interesting to see. Thanks for posting. I have the same problems with pics of wood I take. The colour seems to get washed out when I post them here, Anyway these are all lovely pens and credit to your skill.